


Love Got Me Out

by WildAndFreeHearts



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Courtship, Eloping, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Portals, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 11:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4177698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildAndFreeHearts/pseuds/WildAndFreeHearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki and Jane are a Warlock Prince and Alchemist Princess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jane | Loki

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Artemis_Day](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Day/gifts).



> The title of this fic actually comes from a song called Ol' Red by Blake Shelton... it doesn't really have any bearing on the story itself, it was just a song that got stuck in my head while I was writing it. I guess I thought the line fit the magic portal. Er... or something.

“Do you think he’ll be handsome?” Jane asked. “I mean, people say he is. But who would say something like ‘Our Prince looks ugly’? None would dare, even if it were true.”

Her handmaiden, Pepper, paused in brushing her hair, to stare into the vanity mirror at Jane’s pouting face. “Jane, that’s superficial.” She said reprovingly before relenting “But I guess you have a point. However, I think you should be more worried about if he is going to be cruel or odd. You know the whispered things that people say about King Odin.” These were apparently not the things Jane wanted her to say, because her face only looked more distressed by the second. “Oh. I meant– I’m sure everything will be fine.” She cut herself short and tried to grin reassuringly, as she resumed brushing, with more vigor, while statically not meeting Jane’s eyes in the mirror.

A put-upon sigh from Natasha, Jane’s personal guard, sounded from near the door to the princess’ chambers where she was waiting. The other women turned to look at her. “Surely you can remember some of your childhood visits to get a good idea of his features and mentality? It’s possible he’s changed, of course, but…” She shrugged.

Jane does smile at that, rather wistfully, while looking down at her hands in her lap. “I remember that he would stop Prince Thor from pulling my braids, but then do it himself later. Prince Thor was fair complexioned and older and always getting into trouble for being loud, while Prince Loki was closer to my own age, dark-haired and quiet in a way that made you wonder exactly when you were going to become the butt of the joke in one of his pranks. I remember hating boys, because I thought that if they were all like those ones, I’d rather none exist in the first place.”

Pepper and Natasha share a worried look over Jane’s shoulder. “Well,” Natasha says hopefully “As I said, maybe things could have changed in the last six years.”

\---

Thor clapped Loki on the back affectionately, making Loki feel a bit like a bounced ball in the mildly jostling carriage. “Brother, why do you seem so forlorn? Soon you shall be wed! You will have a beautiful Queen to fill your heart and your bed!” Thor laughed bombastically at his own crude joke. Loki didn’t join him in it. “Beautiful? You have no idea what she looks like, Thor. She could look like dragon dung and smell only half as sweet.” He said matter-of-factually.

Thor scoffed. “Of course she will be a perfect match for you! I remember how she was when we were young. She was much more like you are – quiet and loved her books. You will be a good match. It is well that Father chose her to be yours.”

This was why he had tried to request that Thor and he arrive in separate carriages. Dealing with his brother’s ignorance was more than he could stand on a day already so fraught with bothersome things.

“You are only happy that you were not the one picked to marry her. She is also not some object that was ‘given’ to me. If she has the good sense to refuse, as I hope she will, we can put this whole ridiculous mess behind us.” Loki's look and tone are both acidic.

Thor looks abashed. “Of course I would never mean that I thought you would take her unwillingly, Loki.” Then he sighs softly, placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder. “And I can assure you that it is not relief for myself but honest joy for you that spurns on my words of happiness. I truly wish for both of you sakes that you marry and find love together.” Thor’s eyes look glassy, with what appear to be unshed wedding tears.

Loki really hates Thor sometimes.


	2. Jane

The arrival of the foreign King and Princes’, soon followed with their welcoming fest, is all blur in Jane’s head. She only really has time to notice that Prince Loki actually doesn’t look like a pig as she feared he would. If any whispers in her ear about the row he had with Pepper’s beloved Lord Stark before the fest were anything to go by however, he might just act like one, unfortunately.

It also had been said that Loki’s right-hand man, Clint, had been terrorizing the castle staff with hyper-vigilant safety and ridiculous rules, before Natasha had gotten wind and put a stop to it.

Everything was just moving so fast. It didn’t even feel like it had been a day yet, and like it had also been a whole week in one day when Jane finally lay down to sleep that night.

Loki had asked her to go riding the next day over dinner, and accepting his proposal had left her giddy enough to dream of unicorns and Pegasus’ all night.

\---

The riding was set to start early morning, so Jane had a quick breakfast and dressed accordingly.

Later when she went to meet him, Natasha joined her as her courtship aide. Loki and his aide, Clint, where already present, and the horses where already prepared for them.

It was decided they would take a common path in the small forest near the castle.

They had hardly breached the forest when Natasha told them that Loki and Jane could depart to have personal time alone together. When the other three members of the group seemed taken aback, she had merely rolled her eyes. “They’re going to be married. I’m sure they have things to talk about. It’s not like anyone would be able to avoid Clint’s and my detection. If either of you try anything untoward, the other can shout, besides, we’re on a path. We can see almost all the way down it. We’ll give you privacy, just don’t wander too far.” And well, yeah, when it had been put that way, it seemed logical.

But what Natasha hadn’t taken into account obviously was that neither of them wanted to say anything to the other. So they kind of wandered a small way down the path in uncomfortable silence for a while.

“What quarrel do you have against Alchemy?” She finally asked when she could no longer bear the quiet. It had just been the first thing that had happened to pop into her mind to say.

“Nothing?” His brow was knitted, and although she was sure he had meant the word as a statement his obvious confusion made it sound more like a question. It also seemed like he was perhaps perturbed that she had chosen to talk to him at all.

Jane huffed a bit in amused disbelief. “I’ve heard you seem very keen on your dislike of Lord Stark.” Her observation was made in an amiable way, but caused an odd reaction in him.

“Alchemists like Lord Stark,” Loki said, a look of understanding on his face twisting into a sneer “are pathetically ungifted people who are envious of the natural kind of magic people like myself posses. They try to imitate, like children playing at adulthood; this power is not something you can fathom unless you already have it within your own grasp – and in exactly the same manner, more often than not when you finally reach your glorified ideal you only find you desperately wish you could relinquish the responsibility of it.” He hadn’t turned to look at her the entire time he had spoken, his tone sharp and deriding and his body language narcissistically languid.

Jane sat a little straighter in her saddle, eyebrows rising. She would not be belittled by this pampered, foolish prince. Even though she knew she must marry him, it didn’t mean that she would have to take his cruel scolding. “Is that what happened to you?” She quipped, airily, with an undercurrent of steel.

She saw his knuckles turn white at the grip on his reins, his emerald eyes flashing as he finally turned to regard her. “Do not speak of that which you will never comprehend.” Was all he said, his voice low and poisonous, each syllable practically hissed out as his eyes narrowed.

Jane could already feel her cheeks flushed with indignation. “You should try to follow your own advice, I think. I doubt most Alchemists ever wanted to be a Warlock. Natural magic is…” She raised her hand to twiddle her fingers at him, her nose scrunching.

Loki’s face went carefully blank, his posture rigid. It was such a sudden change from the riotous face he had shown not a moment before. “Ah. I see.” He said neutrally, before facing forward again.

Five minutes of silence later, they began to head back towards their aides. Natasha and Clint seemed to have had a good time in each other’s company, because they were both chatting friendly when Jane and Loki found them again in the clearing.


	3. Loki

It’s still early morning when Loki awakens, having tossed and turned all night in discomfort for being in a bed that wasn’t his own. Loki is in his chamber, and desperately hoping more than ever, since his last interaction with Princess Jane that she will demand he leave. Nothing would make him happier. And he’s sure that if the parting looks she had given him the day before when she had flounced off with her aide was anything to go by, they were of a same mind.

So it comes as a great shock when later he receives a note via Clint that Jane wishes to have another round of courting. She had even had the audacity to simply pen “Jane” as her signage. He narrows his eyes at the neat, tidy lettering on the parchment, trying to figure out what game she’s trying to play. In the end he chooses to not play it with her. He takes out his raven quill and writes in the never ending green ink that flows from it, in the space below her words “ I thank you for the offer. I regret to inform you however, that I believe that I may have caught a chill from our ride.” This was obviously a lie, as the sun had been shining, hotly. Enough so that even Loki had sweated slightly. “I believe I will be spending the day in my rooms. – Sincerely, Loki Laufey Odinson, Prince of Endless Summer and the Isles of Eternal Ice, Earl of Languishing Wastes, Viscount of Spaces Between, and Warlock Supreme” The last was a bit of a stretch, as it wasn’t exactly true yet, but Loki did love to gloat, even though he knew it to be a failing. Besides, since she had such an obvious distrust of natural magic, he knew it would distress her. So he left it on. Then he handed the note to Clint and told him to make sure she obtained it.

As Clint closed the door behind him, Loki opened a small opening to one of his personal pocket areas and pulled out one of his favorite spell component tomes, sitting down on his bed, he began to read.

\---

What Loki hadn’t counted on was Jane’s persistence and impertinence. She showed up half an hour later, in his personal chambers, uninvited, a harried Clint following close behind, trying to hamper her infiltration, while the Lady Natasha obstructed him from touching the Princess. While Princess Jane floated in with poise, with a basket held delicately under her arm, the other two seemed to be attempting to remain respectful to each other while simultaneously acting like angry cats, and they didn’t so much as enter the room behind her, as practically fall into it. When both of them broke eye contact long enough to notice that Jane was now sitting primly on the end of Loki’s bed, beginning to empty her basket, Natasha grinned triumphantly and Clint shuffled awkwardly seemingly caught somewhere between anger and finding the situation somehow amusing.

Loki didn’t think it was amusing, at all. Well… perhaps some. He glared half-heartedly at the woman at the end of his bed in petulance. “I believe I said that I was unable to attend to you today.” He said coolly.

“Yes,” She replied distractedly, beginning to open her packages. The first one held a tray of sandwiches, one of which she held out to Clint distractedly. “So I thought I would attend to _you_ instead. To apologize for being rude. And to ask to start over and see if we can't do it on the right foot this time.”

She finally looked at him, her eyes icy blue eyes locking onto him, airing an obvious challenge.

Clint took the dainty crustless sandwich and took a bite that left only half. He seemed satisfied with it until he saw Loki’s tight jaw and stiff posture, his reproving glance at his traitorous behavior.

Finally Loki gave in with a sigh. “Fine,” He waved at the sandwiches. “But I hope you have some real food.”

The smile Jane gave him was unexpected and dazzling. He was sure if he were anyone else he may have been forced to return it. “I have some meat pies from the kitchen.”


	4. Loki | Jane

He knows that he used to get by without Jane. But it's been a long time now since he's had too. And with their impending marriage, it seems to Loki that now he'll never have to again. He knows he would have never believed that he could have become to sentimental and attached to anyone. But Jane isn't just anyone.

She's the only person she lets into his room at night. Like now.

The lights are out in his chambers, as she whispers “Show me.” softly, her voice huskier than it usually got, unless they were being intimate.

Even though they had dismissed Clint and Natasha, the request still brought a mild flush of embarrassment to his face. “Are you sure?”

Her face was cast in green from the chemical liquid in one of the vials she had set up on the table in his room. “The calculations should be correct. Just try to keep your spell controlled.”

Loki wanted to sigh in exasperation and explain to her yet again how unpredictable his magic was, but the beauty of the wonder and anticipation on her face kept his words in check.

He still remembers the day she had told him, equal part shame-faced and proud the Lord Stark was not the only Alchemist in the Middleland Royal Court – she, her father, and her cousin Lady Darcy were apparently all dabblers in the arts. This look she has now was the way he wanted to see on her face from now on, not the pain he recalls seeing there that day. He wanted nothing but her happiness. And he wanted to be the cause of it.

He closed his eyes, searching for the threads he knew he could pull, to bring the magic flowing into him. He felt the sudden rush of caressing power building inside of him, and reveled in it as he always did, before regaining his concentration and willing the magic to work the way she had asked him to. He struggled with it for a moment, trying to cajolingly bend it to his will. Finally the bubble of reality alteration burst in his mind, cascading over him, letting him know that he had changed the world with his power. The rush of euphoria was amazing, like it always was.

But when he opened his eyes to see her shining like the lights of the winter sky over the Isles of Eternal Ice, a large portal hovering behind her over the table, his heart stuttered in his chest. Her hair was flowing wildly, as if caught in a breeze, although air the room was still. The wind had to be coming from the hole.

\---

Jane observed as the emerging serenity took Loki in its grip. It was always this way when Loki put real power behind his magic, a slow build to a blissful dreamlike state, where if she listened hard enough she could hear him slip out of his normal routine of keeping his incantations in his mind and start mumbling them in slurs under his breath – he seemed particularly fond of the term ‘ᚱᛃᛖᚱᛞᚹᚱᛒᚱ’ in that state, although she had no idea what it meant.

Suddenly, the portal she had been hoping for appeared – small at first, but spreading wider, as the chemicals in the vials began to rise from their containers in particles to interact with the magic Loki was folding into it. She felt her hair lift in the kinetic power pulsing in an out of it.

The power-high was something Loki normally rode for a few minutes at least after using his magic, so when she felt it start to slow and eventually stop all together, she thought she would have to wait to him to come to his senses. However when his eyes opened, pupils blown wide, the fog started to clear at a rate she was unused to.

"Jane?" he croaked, reaching out for her. He looked... scared. "Don't fall, Jane. Come here. It will pull you, like your hair."

Jane understood. "No, no, I'm fine. See?" She stepped forward and put her hand in his outstretched one. He sighed contentedly and began twiddling her fingers between his. So she waited. Slowly but surely most of the confusion faded. He blinked at her, then back at the portal. "Where does it go?" he asked, his voice still slightly rough.

Jane smiled. "I don't know. Somewhere new. Would you like to go with me?"

Loki shook his head, seemingly making himself dizzy, but his voice was firm now. "No. We've got to stay here and get married."

Jane couldn't help the laugh that bubbled from her at that. "Yes. But we can always come back. To right here and right now. We'll just make a return portal." She glanced at the quickly emptying vials. "But we'll have to leave soon."

In a flash, his focus seemed to return to him. He looked dubiously at the hole. Then he smirked down at her. "Are you asking me to elope?"

She didn't fight the blush that rose to her cheeks. "No. Maybe? Yes. Yes, I am. But we can always come back."

This time it was Loki who laughed, as he leaned down to seal his lips over hers. When they finally parted he began to pull her through the portal like an excited child. "Why in the world would we ever want to do that? Oh, powers! Can you imagine the look on Odin and Selvig's faces when they think we've skipped town?" He asked jubilantly.

Jane might have once scolded him for trying to make mischief... but that was before she had decided to start making it herself. So she let him lead her, with a giddily conspiring grin.


End file.
